Spinning in the yurt: green fibre make happy sock yarn

Finally, a post with photos. What's the point of having a camera if I don't take any photos for you all?

Whether I'm travelling, waiting for an appointment, or moving into a yurt, one of the most important things is that I avoid getting bored. Boredom leads to thinking which is only sometimes a good thing.

So to keep me comfortable in the yurt I have my alarm clock, mp3 player, Kindle, light and well...self defence system

Actually I do know how to use a sword. There was a lot of self defence classes when I was growing up in the 80s and 90s. I like this one because it has a nice curve to it, is double edged, sharp enough to cut through rope in case of emergency, and the scabbard just the right weight and can do almost as much damage to an attacker as the blade if you know what you're doing.

Surely all that is not enough to keep me entertained. Need a spinning wheel.

Have a closer look at this beautiful fibre.

One of the braids is soft Marino, the other blended with silk. These are hand dyed by Ryan of Knotty by Nature. I figured I needed an extra special treat so I dug into my special occasion fibre stash.

I'm starting with the Marino and spinning my standard sock yarn - comfort yarn - as who doesn't like Marino sock yarn? Problem is, I have the hardest time talking myself into selling sock yarn in my shop. I tend to hoard it in hopes of someday learning how to use my knitting machine to make socks.

Second night in a yurt

Second night in the yurt went better. I think I might be able to get use to this.

Now thinking about getting a yurt of my own. I'm very fond of the Mongolian Yurts as they have many layers of cloth and wooden doors. I imagine it would feel very cosy and secure in there. They also look fantastic.

I could have my own yurt, it would be like having my own sanctuary. I could be like a snail, with my own portable home if I ever needed it.

This would be the yurt for me. It's a 3-walled (12' across) yurt, which is the same size as the one I'm borrowing from OB1. It's big enough to live in but not so big it would be a bother to heat. I like how many layers of cloth it has around the frame. I think I would invest in the 4th rain proof layer given the tenancy towards rain in these parts.

Looking at the price, however, makes me realize how much more yarn I'm going to need to sell. Wow. And these are the affordable yurts. Still, it's a good goal. It would make things much easier in my life. Wonder if I can save up enough by next summer?

Wild Carder at Knotty by Nature.

Got a chance to go to my favourite Fibre Arts Store EVER! (notice the capital letters increase as enthusiasm mounts?) Knotty by Nature is owned and run by people who have similar values to myself. They understand the importance of making things by hand. They value local community and the environment. They sell quality supplies from around the world, but also ensure a nice selection of locally produced supplies and locally hand made finished objects.

At knotty, every stage of a craft is available to you. A crochet hat. Some yarn, pattern and crochet hook. Learn how to crochet book. Prepared fibre for spinning your own yarn. Or for the most adventurous: raw fleece, dye stuff, spinning wheel, crochet hook, pattern, and inspiration.

They moved locations a few months back - actually longer than that - and I haven't had much of a chance to look around.

I didn't have much time today, but I did manage a few minutes to stop by and pick up a new drum carder. Finally sold enough yarn lately to afford the Ashford Wild Carder. It is worlds better than my rusty old carder that we found at the back of a garden shed and someone gave to us free and my dad fixed up for me, and although it works well with regular wool, it won't card alpaca as it needs new carding cloth - carder. New Ashford carder just eats up alpaca.

I guess this means I have to spin more yarn now.

Wish I had brought my camera with me and taken loads of shots of the store, but as things have been crazy lately, I'm lucky enough to remember to take a sewing machine with me for consignment - fixed up an old vintage Hudson Bay electric sewing machine. It's from the late 40s to mid 1950s and designed after what was (and still is) Singers most popular model: the Singer 15. It's really beautiful - meant to take photos of that for you too... what are you going to do with me?

Send me right back to the shop with camera in hand!?! That would be a suitable punishment.

No Sales Etsy Team: The Blog

I would like to tell you a bit about the No Sales??? team on etsy. It a group of talented individuals who work together to help each other improve our shops.

It might be sharing ideas about photography, or how to best use keywords to get found by a search. It's a really good group of people. Most of us are new to etsy and are still finding our feet. If you are an etsy person, and your sales are still getting started, it's a wonderful place to visit.

One of the things we do is to give each other shop critiques. There is a list you sign up on if you would like to be cirqued and we are slowly working our way through it. My shop critique was really informative, but I learned so much more by looking at other people's shops. It helped me look at etsy like I am a buyer again and understand what shoppers look for and what they really don't like. I can then take this new bit of insight and go back to my own shop and look for where I need to make changes.

If you have a chance, please have a peek at the No Sales??? blog. New feature on the blog is a shop spotlight kind of things. I've had too little sleep to explain this well, so please hop on over to the blog and have a look for yourselves.

Yurt is cool, however...

...I'm not convinced it would be so much worse in the house with the fumes than staying up all night in the yurt playing 'guess that noise'.

The frogs I like, there are so many of them croaking away that it sounds like one beautiful background music - albeit a very loud one.

The owls are okay, whot, whoooot, whoot. I don't mind them.

The dogs are far away.

That high squeaky noise, like a rusty swing, well, that's bats. They are good except for the rabies.

Neigh, that's the neighbour's horses.

There are sheep somewhere near by, and possibly a cow.

But worst of all are when the deafening chorus of frogs suddenly stop and the world goes deathly silent. A slight wind creaks against the yurt, and not so far away an animals ye-owe-els. There aren't any good options. It is too big for a cat. Too feline for a dog. Could it be a raccoon in heat? I think they usually hiss, and besides, the sound has too much depth to it for such a small critter.

The only real possibility is a cougar, not very far away, muttering to itself.

It might just be the tiredness speaking, but outside alone in the yurt, all by myself with nothing but a flashlight and a sword for company: first night is a dismal failure.

It may be comfortable and very, very cool; but I'm not happy about being out in the cold when my bedroom is within sight. Feeling very woe-is-me right now and a little bit bitter towards the lack of sympathy I've had from a certain family member (who does not read this blog so I'm just venting right now) who seems to think I'm acting like some little kid that wants to camp out in the back yard.

Sorry about that. I'm sure the yurt experience will improve as I get use to it. It's 3am and I just needed to come in the house for a few moments and warm up. Back to 'happy' self when sleep happens.

Moving into the Yurt later this week

The yurt looks so cosy from the outside. You just wait 'till I fill it with rugs and bedding and yarn and stuff. I think it's going to be quite comfortable. It certainly is roomier than I expected.

It's 12' across with the wall about 5' high and the centre 8'. Plenty of room for a bed, some furniture, maybe a little table.

The question was Why am I moving into a yurt in the first place?

It's a good question, and to be completely frank, on I've been avoiding talking about. It's not because I don't want you to know. I avoid it because it reminds me of how bad things are in my life at times. I try very, very hard to keep this blog on a positive note (thus the long periods of silence when I can no longer think of anything good to say). I don't think it adds anything to the Internet if I just complain all the time.

Over the last few years, I've had very serious health issues. After a year of tests and uncertainty, it was discovered that I have Lyme - what's more, I've had it for over 20 years. It could have easily been treated if my doctors had taken me seriously when I was a child, but as the infection had been left unchecked in my body for 20+ years, it's done rather a lot of damage.

Lyme has been around for ages (BBC said the other day that the Ice Man from the Alps had Lyme in his system) but over the last 10 years or so, it has become more a political hot bed. The number of (confirmed) cases are increasing rapidly every year. Yet there is no procedure in place in BC that allows doctors to treat the long term cases.

The methods for testing the body for Lyme are inaccurate and it needs to be a diagnosis of exclusion and symptoms (aka, a clinical diagnosis). So no only are people going undiagnosed, but there is no accurate way to study the bacteria in the body, because there is no clear cut he has it, she doesn't.

It's way more complicated than that.

What it means for me is that I was no longer able to follow my career, finish university, work a normal job, and many more of those little life expectations we take for granted gone. The strain that having an unchecked infection for so long in my body has triggered several other illnesses. Most of which are simply pain full and make me grumpy. Even now that the Lyme infection is sort of in hibernation and not having a direct effect on me, these secondary problems appear to be permanent.

The problem that effects me the most is Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.

The symptoms are very strong - basically vegus nerve thing with the restricted blood flow to brain, shut down of non-essential systems, fainting, confusion. It takes only a small amount of chemicals to set it off.

Off the bat, I'm not sensitive to smells or dust particles, but rather fumes. These cannot be captured by filters or masks. I'm not sure exactly what it is that causes my symptoms, but it is derived from petro-chemicals. So many plastics, all perfumes, most detergents and soaps, anything scented, and PAINT.

Guess what they are doing to the house this week. Painting.

Guess who just arrived while I was writing this. Looks like tonight is my first night in the yurt. Better go get it ready.

I'll be out there until the fumes dissipated enough for me to move back into the house. Might be a few days, might be a few weeks. I promise to keep an eye on the internet but I won't be online as often as usual until this clears up.

More about my experiences with Lyme here - although I don't write there very much these days. It reminds me how much in the shit my life is (sorry for the bad language, but there really isn't a better word to express it).

I really hate having to write such sad things, but I think you deserve to know why. With any luck I can keep my spirits up with the pure excitement of yurt. Yurts are totally cool, and with an extension cord and a heater, I think yurt is going to be quite comfortable too.

The yurt goes up

I am so tired right now. Spent the whole day outside working my (*ahem) off. Morning was spent pulling broom, the afternoon spent playing with (um, learning about) the yurt. All I can say is WOW! Yurt is awesome!

Do you think the over use of the word 'awesome' gives away my age? I hope so.

more pics later - when less tired (or have more coffee).

The yurt arrives

This is a yurt.

More photos later, right now I have to go have lessons on how to assemble yurt.

Get Storied - working my way through the Etsy Workbook from the Get Found symposium

It's quarter past four now. Too late to try and get back to sleep (did I mention it's AM?). Might as well stop procrastinating and try and reinvent myself.

I don't think of myself as a story teller. Perhaps it's because I can't tell jokes or maybe it's some emotional hang up from over aggressive teachers and my dyslexia. I don't know. Although, I enjoy writing and have had some rather amazing dreams that would make great short stories, novels, screen plays; I just can't seem to get past some invisible obstacle that would allow me to write them down. One of the main goals for this blog and the Crowing Hen guides is that maybe -just maybe a little bit please - maybe if I keep writing, eventually I will be able to write fiction. To tell stories. Maybe even make a living at it - but that is a dream for another day.

This year's Etsy Success Symposium: Get Found has inspired me to take my dabbling in selling yarn far more seriously. Since I have nothing else to do at 4:26am, I thought why not take a stab at the Story Telling part of the workbook.

A person seldom buys hand made goods these days just because. They buy more than the quality that handmade means, they seek out the story behind the object. Or at least that is what I do. I assume there are a couple of other people out there like me. It's time to update my profile, but I'm not sure how best to talk about myself in that way.

So here's my first draft - 4:30am first draft so please be gentile with me - attempt to answer the questions put to me by the workbook. Maybe later I can mine this exercise for some useful bits to reinvent my profile.

SUPERHERO ORIGINS

1. What is the set-up to your heroic origins? What humble beginnings or difficult

circumstances have you had to overcome? What is the origin to your powers? (Hint: usually

a response to something you found missing).

I am a country girl who was caught up in the fast pace city life. I always yearned for a way of being where I could take my time and do things right, but instead, I worked, went to university, and struggled very hard to carve out a place for myself in the world. But it didn't work, the harder I fought the less I felt like I belonged.

Then, just shy of finishing university, I got sick and nearly died. Among other things, I became allergic to the modern world and was in a way, forced into the life that I always dreamed of but never could imagine having.

While I was recovering, yarn became my comfort. I spent my effort learning everything there is to know about it. Through my hobby I found many friends who helped inspire me and coax me through the dark times.

2. What are you willing to fight for? What REALLY motivates you and gets you up in the

morning? Where do you put a stake in the ground?

Coffee gets me up in the morning, that and the insomnia.

But in seriousness, this is a tough one. Something I've often wondered. Should I say world peace? Ecological preservation? Pride in my skill? People? All very important things, but as much as I love them all... I can't honestly say it's sufficient.

The things that motivate me, that REALLY gets me up in the morning are so small they are invisible to most people.

The way the light catches a newly chopped onion, or the posture of a rooster just about to crow. A trampled flower growing in a crack in the side walk. The smell of pasta sauce that I not only cooked myself, but grew the ingredients.

I'm frustrated because these examples aren't capturing the emotion. plainly speaking, I catch a glimpse of some small detail of an everyday thing and I am overwhelmed by a serge of divine joy at the beauty.

A combination of potential for the future and natural, honest origins that are expressed by minutiae.

It's the ignored details that captivate me and for fear of being labelled a weirdo, the pattern that hand torn bread about to become pudding makes in the bowl is just one of those many little things that keeps me motivated throughout the day. The details are what I find worth fighting for.

All these glimpses of beauty can not be found in everything. The line of my computer mouse does nothing to inspire me. Instead, it seems to be limited to naturally occurring phenomena or things hand made from nature. The rosy glow of sunset glistening off a hair stick, hand carved from the wood of a peach tree.

That's enough for one morning. It's much more difficult than I expected. I'm not very happy with my answers and I don't see yet how this is going to help me. But there must be something to it, so I'll keep worrying away at it.

Three more questions to go, but I'll save that for the next time I can't sleep.

Think it might be late enough now I can get up and have some coffee.

Yarn photos - destined for etsy

Had my camera out to take pictures of the farm, thought why not take some yarn shots as well?

Nectarine blossom

how to analyse soil by looking at weeds

One of the subjects I'm really interested in is how analysis soil composition by looking at weeds.

Farmers spend untold amounts of time and/or money augmenting the soil. Put some chicken manure in the soil, you need to sweeten it with lime. Many growers are concerned with NPK, and neglect trace minerals (which are just as important).

Then there is the soil testing industry. You can buy home kits that tell you the basics, or you can send out soil samples to some far off lab for a full evaluation. This can range from a few dollars to several hundred.

Chemical analysis of soil is such a new thing; started less than 200 years ago. Yet, people have been growing food for a little longer than that. So, how did they tell when to add manure or compost, or wood ash, or...?

I've seen references in the old household and farming manuals to analysing the soil by looking at weeds. This is especially helpful if you are thinking of buying some new land. You have a look at the lay of the land, dig in the dirt a bit to determine drainage and check out the weeds. Easy!

Only problem, it was so easy, that the writers I've read didn't bother to write down what different weeds tell us about the soil.

It's not just how sweet or sour the soil is, but also what minerals, drainage, how much loam, sand, &c. There is so much you can tell by looking around you and seeing what plants thrive naturally.

But to find a comprehensive list of them all.... ah, that's my dream.

Slowly complaining one of my own by observation, but I would love a more scientific source of information.

Some acid loving plants:

Stinging Nettle (ouch - leaves sting) - loves soggy ground, with a bit dryer in the late summer/fall

A kind of dead nettle

Dock (make a paste by mashing up the leaves and put it on your stinging nettle sting to reduce the ouch) - deep root grows as companion to stinging nettles

Burdock (yummy! don't weed this please, I'll eat it all in the fall) - loves old pasture, doesn't seem to care about drainage at all.

Yurt is coming... The Yurt is Coming!

I was wondering if anyone would pick up on the yurt comment.

Yes, it's a real yurt. It arrives Sunday and I have no idea what it's going to be like.

But I found the perfect place in the yard - aka, the warmest place in the yard overnight - for it to go.

I'm actually really worried about moving out of the house. Don't know if it's just for a week, but more likely two or more. Moving into the car (leaks/leeks?) or into a tent (summer tent) were not exactly plans that filled me with confidence. If you saw how heavy the frost was last night, you would understand.

Lucky for me, my mentor OB1 - the totally awesome person who taught me how to spin - has a yurt! The awesomeness is unending when it comes to OB1.

This makes me feel much better about the whole thing, and a little excited. I mean, YURT! How cool is that?

In a yurt I won't feel so bad moving in (out?) with the frogs, raccoons and wild geese. Definitely brining my camera.

More on the yurt after it arrives.

Yarn finds good home

Even more inspiration from Noelle today.

Here are photos of a stunning purple hat she made

and a matching flower

Both created from my handspun yarn.

I'm secretly thinking about buying that hat from her. Would that be too cheeky do you think?

I am thrilled to see my poor efforts find such a good home.

How to make Zines Zine - or a swift kick in the pants to get me going

When I saw the title, I couldn't help myself. How to Make your very own Zine! (it's super easy), by Casey Bradley.

I even got a little hand drawn picture on my envelope. It made me smile!

This zine is exactly as promised, a little booklet about how to make more little booklets. It's full of useful information, awesome drawings (I just adore the drawings), and a swift kick in the pants for me to stop procrastinating and get back to work on my own poor efforts.

All these tools just to make one little zine. I don't know. (shakes head in a bemused fashion, at self)

I was procrastinating because, I'm way earlier than I said I would be (last week of each month isn't for ages yet) and because I wasn't confident I could sew fabric swatches onto paper with my old machine. Oh me of little faith. The machine thought nothing of it and the only complaint it made was that I waited so long to play with it.

April's Crowing Hen Guide to Household Management is Finished! It's all about washing fabrics, yarn, &c., by hand. It's a bit more text heavy than I would have liked, but I make up for that by not adding as many terrible line drawings as normal. :)

Little Frog Croak Moon - April 2012

According to my calendar, tonight's full moon is called 'little frog croak moon'.

Let me assure you, the little frog do croak. Moonlight is bright enough to cast a shadow to rival all but the sunniest of days; though the moon steals the colours from us. The sound of the frogs gives true realization to the word reified. The sound of innumerable frogsong so heavy in the air, it's like a weight in your chest making it difficult to breath.

Wonder what it will be like next week when I move into a yurt beside the pond.

Yarn flower makes me feel happy and inspired.

The other day I was telling you about what inspires me to spin yarn. Well here is a prime example.

Absolutely gorgeous. This is crochet by Noelle using some yarn I spun.

I can't find the words to explain how lucky I feel that someone was able to create something so beautiful from my humble efforts.

Check out the listing for this rose here, and please stop by her shop and see some of the other beautiful thins she's made.

Onion skins are the gateway dye - indigo's next

Still improving the photos for my etsy shop, slowly, slowly...slowly.

From this (which is very nice on it's own):

To this:

A far more accurate depiction of the real life colour. I never dreamed madder could be so vibrant. The pre-industrial textile world must be far more colourful than I ever imagined.

Madder dyed, true worsted, lace weight, handspun yarn

From this:

To this:

That's much better and helps tell the story that the yarn was dyed with onion skins. I think it also gives a more accurate feel for the texture. What do you think?

Hand spun, home dyed using onion skins, sock weight yarn

Both these yarns are hand dyed. Not something I do very often. But it got me thinking; I have a lot of white fleece and a lot of white yarn - maybe I should dedicate this summer to natural dyes?

I can dig up some Origan grape roots from my woodlot. I can pester the neighbours by letting the stinging nettles grow (on our side of the fence) next to their manure pile.

It would be nice to make a bigger challenge for myself.

What about Indigo?

I think it would be great fun to start an indigo vat and discover it's magic. June, July and August here are very warm, perfect for a fermentation vat (or two?). I'm off to spin as much white yarn as possible.

Anyone up for an indigo-a-long this summer? Maybe as part of the Tour de Fleece?

Washing delicate fabrics - Second instalment of the Crowing Hen Guides to Household Management

I've completed the text for my second issue of the Crowing Hen Guides to Household Management: Cleaning Delicate Fabrics. Next job is to print it up, type up the cover on my trusty typewriter, and to do a bit of sewing for the fabric swatches. You didn't think I would just be including text and line drawings, did you?

What I like to do is to make each one a little bit different. I do this by hand making the cover, doodling something different on each one, adding fabric scraps, &c. I wonder if I can sew fabric directly onto paper?

Topics I'm in the mood to write about for next month include:

• How to clean your floor,
• An opinionated look at different methods for composting,
• How to get on with your rooster.
• Or I could write about something else

Any of these catch your fancy? Taking requests, but I don't necessarily promise to give them back.

A rusted sewing machine, mystery steampunk project and playing with my typewriter

Found some neat stuff at yardsales yesterday. Among them yet another Singer 127 sewing machine on a treadle base for next to nothing. Problem is, it's in absolutely rotten shape. Everything's rusted, including the treadle base. However, it does have some parts on it that I can use to repair this 128 I have hanging around. Perhaps the left over parts could be used for art part of my mystery project? What do you think? Do manual sewing machines seem steampunkish to you?

I also found these nifty tags.

Of course, this means that I had to play with my typewriter. But I don't need much excuse for that.

Mystery project parts

I'm having the hardest time finding what parts I need for my mystery project.

It's not just finding the parts (either at an affordable price or by selvage) but also adjusting the system to compensate for the parts I've found.

My brain is getting tired learning all this new stuff.

The plan was to run something that takes 550W for at least 20m. That way I can make coffee. Because I'm sure there is loss and stuff throughout the system, I rounded it up to 600W for 30m.

My rice maker takes less than half that for 45min, but I know that the maths are not that simple.

I would like it to create AC power so that it will be compatible with stuff already around the house and I don't have to buy some special DC kettle or stuff.

Problem is, I don't yet have a battery and I don't know where to get an inverter or a controller for the input, &c.

But maybe this will help.

It plugs into a car lighter and converts DC to AC. It's not strong enough for my coffee maker, but it will run most things and it has a plug on it that looks just like the ones you have in the wall.

Originally I thought to take it apart, and try and steal the relevant components from it, but I'm not sure I would know what they look like anyway. Now I'm thinking make the system modular. Get a plug like a car lighter plug and attach it to the battery so that this can plug in. Then later when I find better components, I can easily replace them without major rewiring.

Any thoughts on where I can get an affordable controller thingy - the one that controls all the input from my solar panels (wired in series perhaps?) and my generator and a possible third input. They are all fairly low level input. I just need this controller thingy and a battery, then I can put it all together and start playing..

Learning from the Etsy Success Symposium: Get Found

The people at etsy held a symposium today all about how to get noticed. The bits of it I did manage to catch were full of all sorts of information that I hope to apply to my shop over the next little while. I am however, a little sad that they couldn't have chosen a rainy day for it, as I had a lot of farm work to do this morning and I missed some of the best bits. Good news for me, and you if you are interested, they promise to have recordings of the videos here.

key points that I learned:

• Take full advantage of key words and titles.
• use social media efficiently. It takes time away from crafting, so maybe dedicating 2 hours a day to the 3 people that follow me on twitter is not the best idea. (oh, wow. It's actually 8 people now!)
• Tell a story - both about yourself in your profile and about each item. Tell the story with both words, and if possible, photograph. See the Superhero section of the work book for ideas. (on the off chance that someone from etsy ever gets lost and accidentally stumbles over to my blog - I LOVE THE WORK BOOK! just sad it didn't agree with my kindle. maybe next year, add kindle supported pdf files?)
• improve my photos - now, that's the big one!

I want to create a unified theme with my etsy shop and I haven't done that yet. So far I've just been putting items for sale as they come ready. It's time stop and retake my photos.

When I sell my yarn in the local shop, it's easy to express the quality. Yarn is such a tactile shopping experience. Sure, the visual appeal draws people to it, but in the end, most people want to pet the yarn before investing in it. With hand spun yarn this is extra important because the quality and intended use can vary so drastically.

How can I prove to the internet that my quality is better than average. I know that I can spin a good yarn (what pun?) but how to convey that in five photos or less? That's the issue. This is probably why I'm pricing so much lower than I would if selling in person. Let's call it an introductory discount and assume the prices will return to normal when I get my shop all nicely polished.

Take this yarn for example:

It's one of my top quality yarns. It's ultra fine lace weight, handspun yarn. It's spun very strong, very soft, and very consistent. I spun it up to be used as warp for a scarf or perhaps a shall. But how to show all that in a photograph that will make people click and learn more?

First attempt at taking photos was not very good:

In fact, the word dismal comes to mind. I wouldn't click on this, level on buy it. Why expect someone else to do better.

Here's my second attempt:

A few props to express quality. Pen cleverly pointed towards the yarn (a little trick that I remember from high school art class) to encourage the subconscious to pay closer attention.

One thing I've done is to choose a slightly textured cloth for the background. Personally I don't enjoy photos where it looks like the object is just floating in space. I find, for me, it's much more difficult for me to imagine what it would feel like to interact with the object in the flesh.

I don't know if this is going to work, but it's a start. Too many chores still to do on the farm today. Insomnia is in full swing, so I'll see what I can do when the sun goes down.

Crowing Hen Guide to Household Management Subscription

Here's an idea I've been playing with.

It says, The Crowing Hen Guide to Household Management, 6 Month Subscription.

It would be a once a month, overly opinionated and often informative, zine about various topics to do with household management, including the traditional kitchen garden.

Inspired by Mrs. Beeton, topics would range from methods of composting, to how to hand wash delicate fabrics, to what are the most important tools to keep in your kitchen, or whatever I feel like writing about that month. I even take requests, but don't make any promises that I will actually write about it.

Each zine will be unique, hand bound by me using at least some upcycled materials (aka, whatever I have on hand that I don't want to spend money on) like cut-up paper bag for a cover.

I have no doubt they will include my terrible line drawings, and/or other art, however, the main body of the zine will be text. The size of each zine will vary depending on how much opinion I have on the topic.

The biggest advantages to doing this would be to encourage me to write, not just more, but more carefully. And to spend a decent amount of time editing what I write. Maybe I will stop telling random people I meat at the post office how best to use a cast iron pan.

The disadvantage is that it will make me write more. I'll be tied to a schedule, albeit not a difficult one.

So what do you think? Go for it or step away from the typewriter and get a life already?

ps. this idea was inspired by the many, many, MANY, hours I've spent teaching cleaning ladies how to clean with natural products. I can promise that I would write about this in great length with recipes for making your own affordable, nature friendly, health imbibing household cleansers.

How to grow plants... First of the Crowing Hen Guides to Household Management

It's finished!

I'm so pleased and it turned out far better than I expected.

I rather like writing zines. They are like an overly opinionated version of my blog, but longer and with drawings.

Usually, I try to limit my blog entries to 800 words. It's not easy, but 800 words tends to be sufficient to convey one compete idea. It's not enough for tutorials, and I quite like writing tutorials. A zine can have a great deal more words which gives me the freedom I need to go into more detail.

I also have a rather in-depth obsession with household management topics. Lately one of the provincial maid service providers asked me to write about cleaning with natural products. I didn't think they expected it to be so long.

When writing it, I realized (or possibly remembered) how easy it is to write about something I'm passionate about.

I see more zines in my future. In fact, I'm over half way finished the text for one about hand washing fabric, yarn and stuff. I didn't get much sleep last night.

For my first zine, Growing Plants from Scrap, I deliberately choose a subject that isn't too opinionated. I wanted to get my toes wet without stepping on anyone else's. I can't make that promise in the future.

Looking at all the other lovely zines online, I am reminded of Elizabeth Zimmerman and the knitting newsletter she use to produce. Elizabeth Zimmerman, that patron saint of knitting in the round, please guide my fingers as they fly across my keyboard and help me reach people in need of household management advice.

My First Zine, one of many.

For those who are interested, I'm trying twitter out for a few days. I'm not convinced it's adding anything of value to the vast cannon of junk that is the internet, but I do enjoy the Haiku style of writing that cramming a whole idea into 140 characters inspires.

My First booklet/zine/whatever - I'm not really sure what to call it - is almost complete.

I finally finished bashing my head against my printer and got it to listen to me. Then I cut up an old paper bag to use for a cover, typed on the bag some stuff, and bound the booklet/zine/whatever with some handspun yarn.

What would you call it? Each booklet is 16 pages of how to... and each booklet is unique in that I've bound them with whatever random handspun yarn I have on hand and used the typewriter to produce the cover (errors and all). It's sort-of household management instructional meets art project. But not as artsy as most zines I see for sale on etsy.

As soon as I can stop myself from taking photos of my new toy, I'll take some pictures and put the zine/booklet/whatever for sale on my etsy shop.

twitter - do you care?

Do people in the world actually care about twitter?

Would anyone who reads this blog or any yarn friends who stumble across this want me to join twitter?

What makes twitter better than a blog?

Talk me into joining twitter or give me good reason not to.